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Seeking guidance for hyperacusis

Diana-M said:
I honestly can’t tell you how hard it was to fight this latest symptom flare that threatened to make me unable to get into the bathroom!
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So you 'did a Baseball65' and pushed through extreme stiffness and/or pain (whatever your symptoms were at the time) to get to the bathroom? If so, then you probably need to take no notice of me and continue to 'do a Baseball65' if it works for you...

However, it is true to say that I have had to 'push through' and be kind of forceful to a certain extent (more like 'determined' I would say) on occasion... like when I had a big flare several months ago and I was finding it extremely difficult to get up and down from sitting due to sudden extreme stiffness of my pelvis, hips, haunches and lower back (which also made standing very difficult) but I only got up and down when I needed to. I didn't challenge the symptoms by, say, getting up and down when I didn't need to (but I did visualise getting up and down with ease, which is my way of 'counteracting' what's going on). When my symptoms started to lessen, I then gradually went back to doing all the things I usually do while standing (and getting up and down from sitting became easy again). Fortunately, the flare didn't last long.
 
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I have days when I can be Baseball and days when I have to be more moderate. It just depends. I never know what each day will be.
 
Diana-M said:
Yes, I did what @Baseball65 would do, and it worked!
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Good that it worked for you. For me I have had to take a different approach. I have never said this on these forums before (because I did not want to get embroiled in 'discussion' about it where, judging from other such conversations involving other forum members, I felt I would be told it was my fault in somehow 'doing it wrong' with no explanation as to how/why that was the case) but in the early days of my being on these forums, I took Baseball65's advice to be 'gung ho' in challenging my symptoms and in response I wound up bed bound for 3 months. A major TMS symptom for me has always been muscle spasming... and when I took his advice, I experienced an almighty spasm, across my haunches which torqued and twisted my pelvis out of line and the muscles in question then set like concrete and held my pelvis in that dramatically visibly torqued position for 2.5 months. It was absolutely excruciatingly painful to stand or walk. Not everyone has this particular TMS symptom, so 'horses for courses'.
 
Yikes! @BloodMoon! That’s horrible! I can see why you don’t ever want that to happen again! Your admonitions have always been a sound word of caution to me. I do everything in baby steps for that reason. I think our brains are saying, “I’m going to shut you down!” And then, they just keep turning up the ante. How we get them to lighten up is evidently unique to everyone. But I don’t see how playing it somewhat safe with baby steps can’t hurt. Although, I haven’t had much luck leaving the house with baby steps. (Yet.) I’m looking forward to progress; however that shows up. And lately, I feel this underlying hope and excitement that it’s closer than I think.
 
@BloodMoon "Not everyone has this particular TMS symptom"

Welcome to the party! This is one of my main symptoms! You are right, this one is very difficult to challenge. It comes and goes for me to various degrees and I just go with it - the sensations eventually pass but man, can they hold you hostage.

Baby steps and "playing it safe" can totally backfire if you are doing it out of fear. Your brain will then turn on the "stay at home, stay inside where it is safe. Keep away from the big bad world" easily. If you go out and then stop going out it can reinforce the messages of lack of safety. That is why I advocate repetition. Going "out" doesn't necessarily necessitate being in public - just go outside! Begin by opening a window and breathing in some fresh air and looking out at the world outside if you need to. The idea of "waiting until" is a form of self-victimization. It's a can't, a fear, a not good enough "yet", not "ready" yet. Employ your baby steps method to get out (not so easy in this weather, I get it, but still you can open the door and get a breath of fresh cold, crisp seasonal air...)....then do it again tomorrow, and then do it the next day...the day after that again... then keep doing it until you can stay out a minute, two minutes, etc.
 
Diana-M said:
But I saw it as not optional. I saw it as critical to win.
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What I'm wondering is that you saw what you did during your flare as "not optional" and "critical" so you "gritted your teeth" and pushed through, whereas could it be that with 'baby steps' the 'problem' is that your brain views doing them as 'not critical' and 'optional' because when you're not in flare you can get to the bathroom (albeit that may still involve discomfort and some difficulty)? Because I don't have the option of 'Baseball65-ing it', although I have never analysed it before, I guess I view my 'baby steps' and daily routine of chores and movement that I have built up and continue to build upon as being 'critical' and 'not optional'. I'm not saying that you're not doing 'baby steps', I'm talking about the mindset behind doing them.
 
Just had plugs out and some spaced out animal started screaming right next to my house. It shocked me to the core but being able to share this here means a lot. I can at least maximize the steps i take after an acoustic shock. Time for breathing and meditation and a nice restful sleep after. Thanks to all folks here for being of help. I'm trying, I really am
 
Mani said:
Just had plugs out and some spaced out animal started screaming right next to my house. It shocked me to the core but being able to share this here means a lot. I can at least maximize the steps i take after an acoustic shock. Time for breathing and meditation and a nice restful sleep after. Thanks to all folks here for being of help. I'm trying, I really am
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Poor Mani. I’m really sorry you have to go through this. Yes, do some meditation.
 
Mani said:
Just had plugs out and some spaced out animal started screaming right next to my house. It shocked me to the core but being able to share this here means a lot. I can at least maximize the steps i take after an acoustic shock. Time for breathing and meditation and a nice restful sleep after. Thanks to all folks here for being of help. I'm trying, I really am
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That's the way to do it!
 
Diana-M said:
@BloodMoon, I guess I felt (incorrectly) it would be the end of the world. I catastrophically picture nursing homes, bed pans, wheel chairs and having to move to a one story house. So in essence, my TMS brain was using my own hysterical fears to tell me how angry it really was. Whereas, if I’m trying to do the dishes in baby steps, then my brain doesn’t try and stop me as much, because not being able to do that wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. (I don’t really want to do them anyway. lol) So the answer here, is to stop thinking so hysterically. My husband would just have to temporarily escort me to the bathroom. Voila. Problem solved. Don’t give your TMS brain any fuel for its fire.
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I love your insight on how catastrophe thinking fuelled the flare override—that's spot on. But I wasn't saying 'dial down the hysteria' (though that's a good point too). It's more about upgrading baby steps' status in your brain from 'skippable' (like dishes) to 'must-do baseline, period'—like your flare bathroom process.

For me, that's how my routines stuck: no flare forced it, but I coded them non-negotiable. Your brain already knows how—why not tag one daily step the same way (to move you closer to getting out of your house)? Less fuel for TMS avoidance, more proof of safe capability.
 
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Cactusflower said:
Welcome to the party! This is one of my main symptoms! You are right, this one is very difficult to challenge. It comes and goes for me to various degrees and I just go with it - the sensations eventually pass but man, can they hold you hostage.
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You know, I have sometimes wondered if that were the case with you too, @Cactusflower, mainly because you're a 'baby steps-er' like me, albeit I know that you have experienced other symptoms that would likely have also pointed you in this direction of path. (It's just that my observations tell me that those who don't experience, or haven't at some point experienced, debilitating muscle spasms are usually loathe to take a 'baby steps' approach.)
 
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Well first im gonna sit and feel myself again. I had a pretty ok day but feeling a lot more stress right now.
 
Mani said:
I'll skip the first part cause i hate hearing about symptoms and the bad days but the good bit ill definitely watch
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Yep, the article (very helpfully) says to ignore the first part, and, with the guy's success/recovery story in the video, I believe he does go into some detail of symptoms to explain what it was like for him, so avoid watching it altogether if any talk of symptoms might trigger you atm.
 
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